COVID-19 Pushes Telehealth for Veterinary Care Into the Spotlight

One side-effect of the coronavirus pandemic is that it has highlighted new uses for telehealth. And veterinary care is at the top of that list.

Interest in veterinary telehealth is surging during the ongoing crisis, from pet owners looking for care without having to travel to veterinarians looking to expand their reach without filling their clinics – and even to health plans and health systems who are identifying social and societal factors that affect one’s health and wellness.

“With intensifying concern around COVID-19, use of telemedicine has become an important way to protect and monitor the health of veterinary patients and veterinary teams,” the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) advises on its website. “Using telemedicine can help prevent the spread of COVID-19, because it allows veterinary patients to be appropriately triaged and monitored with only those veterinary patients that really need to be seen making the trip to the clinic along with their owners.”

The advantages of telehealth for veterinary care are similar in many aspects to human care. Pet owners would like access to virtual care so that their pet could be seen by a veterinarian without the hassle of time and money spent on travel and waiting in a waiting room, especially if the issue is minor and can be addressed via video consult or even a phone call. On the other side, a connected health platforms could give veterinarians access to a much wider patient population, allow them to connect with specialists and prescribe medications, and even monitor pets at home after discharge or for chronic care and medication management.

The bigger challenge lies in getting the payer industry interested in pet health, and that ties into growing evidence that pet health directly affects the health and welfare of pet owners.

Some 65 percent of Americans have a pet, says Mark Cushing, founding partner and CEO of the Animal Policy Group, and academic research has proven that pet ownership has a positive impact on health. In fact, many doctors would be willing to prescribe a pet as a means of addressing stress, loneliness or other health issues.

And pet owners “are prepared to spend the same dollars on taking care of a dog or cat as themselves, their spouse or their children,” Cushing said during a session on veterinary telehealth at this year’s virtual annual conference of the American Telemedicine Association.

In fact, pet ownership is inching into the sandbox of social determinants of health, that fast-growing concept favored by care providers and payers who want to address healthcare through not only clinical treatment but health and wellness factors.

Social determinants of health – the various circumstances in which an individual is born and lives – affects roughly 60 percent of patient health outcomes, well ahead of genetics (30 percent) and even clinical care (10 percent). This means that issues including income, education, transportation, lifestyle, housing and safety all have a strong impact on one’s health.

Add to that list owning and caring for a pet, which ties directly into one’s emotional well-being. In a survey conducted by Xtelligent Healthcare Media, the parent company to mHealthIntelligence, 11 percent of respondents identified pet ownership as a SDOH, 5 percent screen their patients for pet ownership, and 9 percent partner with organizations within the community to address the ups and downs of life with Fido or Mittens.

Prior to 2015, connected health platforms for veterinary care were pretty much non-existent, save for the odd mHealth app designed to help pet owners track their pet’s health and some platforms put to use by large farms and ranches to track herd health. Many states outlawed the use of telehealth for veterinary care, bowing to an industry that traditionally sees in-person (or in-pet) care as a significant source of income.

The COVID-19 crisis changed that thinking.

COVID “has had a dramatic effect on veterinary care,” Cushing said. Not only were people adopting pets in greater numbers to deal with isolation brought on by the pandemic, but veterinary care providers were looking for new ways to deliver care while reducing clinic visits. State governments, as well, recognized the impact, and many added veterinary care to the list of services covered by telehealth under emergency measures.

“Telemedicine was the tool to use,” he said.

“In many cases we don’t think the governors were aware that there were restrictions on pet telemedicine,” Deb Leon, CEO of WhiskerDocs – whose pet telehealth company saw a 30 percent surge in business due to COVID-19 – said during the ATA session.

Recognizing that interest, the US Food & Drug Administration issued its own guidance for telehealth use during the pandemic, suspending enforcement of certain rules around the dispensing of medications and the use of telemedicine to develop what is called the veterinary client-patient relationship (VCPR). That said, the FDA defers to state veterinary medical associations or boards of veterinary medicine for telehealth guidance.

Prior to COVID-19, only about 3 percent of the health insurance market covered pets (about half the health plans in Europe, meanwhile, cover pet health), and few payers were interested in extending those benefits. That made it difficult for telehealth to gain a foothold.

“We don’t have a healthcare funding mechanism for pets like we do for humans, so veterinary medicine for the most part is a cash business,” Cushing noted. And that business was focused on getting people into the clinic for care.

But COVID-19 changed that, and veterinarians are now beginning to dabble in telehealth.

 “They weren’t sure how to do it, they weren’t sure if it was legal, (and) they weren’t sure if they could make any money off of it (or if) their staffs would even be comfortable with it,” Cushing pointed out. “They weren’t sure if their pet owners would even want it.  … the answer is yes.”

Leon says pet owners want access to their pet’s medical record and the ability to get medications without having to travel to a clinic. They want on-demand care for their pets as they would for themselves or their family members.

“This is really about providing pet owners with pet care on their terms,” she said.

And about improving the health of the pet owners.

According to the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI), which studies the bond between humans and pets, 85 percent of practitioners surveyed agree that interaction with their pets helps reduce loneliness, and 76 percent say human-pet interactions can help reduce social isolation.

That can also affect workplace health – at Sony, for instance, 40 percent of the workforce has children but 70 percent have pets. According to HABRI, almost three-quarters of pet owner surveyed would decline a job offer in favor of a pet-friendly workplace, and health plans that offer pet benefits see a 30 percent increase in employee engagement, a 10 percent to 20 percent boost in worker retention and improved presenteeism.

And while telehealth adoption is driven by younger generations demand access to care on their terms, that trend is playing out in the pet world as well. According to Cushing, 62 percent of all pets in America are owned by Millennials and Gen Z - and they want pet healthcare the same way they want their own healthcare, travel and commerce.

Even commercial pet companies are getting into the space. In October, mail-order pet care company Chewy launched its own “Connect With a Vet” telehealth service.

“We have focused our efforts into developing an easy to use and convenient tele-triage product that we anticipate will have a positive impact given the current environment, and also extend beyond that,” company CEO Sumit Singh said in a press release. “We are always looking to enhance our customers’ experience. Visiting a local vet continues to be a challenge for many pet parents during this time. Similarly, the vet community has also been impacted via clinic shutdowns or reduced clinic hours. So, we thought, why not come up with a solution that can help both communities, our customers and veterinarians, in this time of greatest need."

The Florida-based company piloted its service in Florida and Massachusetts before expanding to more than 35 states. It partners with local veterinarians on the connected health platform, allowing them to bolster their business during the coronavirus pandemic.